Human Development

Human development in the scope of humanity, specifically international development, is an international and economic development paradigm that is about much more than the rise or fall of national incomes. People are the real wealth of nations. Development is thus about expanding the choices people have, to lead lives that they value and improving the human condition so that people will get the chance to lead full lives. And it is thus about much more than economic growth, which is only a means - if a very important one - of enlarging people's choices.

Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities - the range of things that people can do or be in life. Human development disperses the concentration of the distribution of goods and services that underprivileged people need and center its ideas on human decisions. By investing in people, we enable growth and empower people thus developing human capabilities. The most basic capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources and social services, needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community. Without these, many choices are simply not available, and many opportunities in life remain inaccessible.

There are four basic pillars of human development: equity, sustainability, production and empowerment. Equity is the idea of fairness for every person; we each have the right to an education and health care. Secondly, sustainability is the view that we all have the right to earn a living that can sustain us and have access to a more even distribution of goods amongst populations. In addition, production is used to show how the government needs more efficient social programs for its people. Lastly, empowerment is an effect of general well-being.

This way of looking at development, often forgotten in the immediate concern with accumulating commodities and financial wealth, is not new. Philosophers, economists and political leaders have long emphasized human well-being as the purpose, the end, of development. As Aristotle said in ancient Greece, "Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking, for it is merely useful for the sake of something else."

Developed countries are seen as those who have a continuous progress in the indexes of life. The countries that have seemed to excel are viewed as having better policies than those who have remained stagnant